People Break Down The Best Backhanded Compliments They've Ever Heard

Just say what you mean. I always try to. Unless the shade is truly funny.

Weight

"You look good for your size."

optionsgirl70

"You’d look really good, you know, if you lost weight. How can they tell unless I look good now?"

MessoGesso

Tardy

“Hey, you’re on time!”

939388383883

"Lol... I'm always late to friend/family gatherings. I can't even get mad when people point it out anymore."

PangolinFit6338

"My friend does this. she also says things like 'wow I'm really impressed you actually pulled that off' and it's a simple task like knowing where to put away f**king flour."

bwofowo

IQ?

"You're smarter than you look."

Tubaplayer1959

"Got hit with this one too! Also that I was actually more interesting than he thought when he first met me. From the overall context I think he really believed he was complimenting me. Thanks..?"

chubbyfingers

Well that's...

"That's certainly a unique..."

Inevitable_Chicken70

"I get this a lot except instead of 'unique' they use the word 'different' with a certain tone to the word and certain pauses around it."

Informal-Amphibian-4

"Or interesting."

runnyOntheInside

WHAT?

"You have years beyond your wisdom."

Poorly-Drawn-Beagle

Oh well Bless your heart! See, I can do it as well.

You?

“You’re smarter/funnier/etc than I thought you were”

napluvr17

ACTION!!

"As a director of high school theatre, if a parent says 'it looks like everyone on stage had a good time' it means 'no one in the audience enjoy this show.'"

colbyrosenkrantz

"It is possible for a middle/high school performance to be enjoyable, and it really makes a huge difference. The worst are 3-hour holiday band/choir performances for elementary schools. Your kid is in two songs, but you have to sit through them all and pretend it isn't painful."

Gromky

Cheers!

I used this one in a roast of my ex-boss before he transferred departments:

"The respect and leadership you've shown our team simply cannot be stated."

"Delusions of adequacy. But my favourite was after our marketing director left to go to another college the principal announced that he didn't want us to think of it as losing a valued team member so much as hamstringing the opposition."

Hysterical_Realist

Next to Godliness...

A friend visited (she’d been over many times) and this time when she stepped into our kitchen she said, “wow it’s so clean! :l "

Wrenby

Ha! My Grandpa said recently as he visited my mother's house: "this is the cleanest I have ever seen this place look, well done! She has lived there for 30 years and was, understandably, miffed."

StructureNo3388

Later

"When people say 'see you later' and the person responds 'not if I see you first!' Took me ages to realize they're saying they'll avoid me if they see me before I notice them. Pretty funny when used sarcastically though."

PilotG2-07

The Tops

"Your performance was top of the bell curve!"

ceenyc

"It means you're average."

"Even seen those average IQ charts?"

"It just means there's a lot of people in that area."

Ender_Nobody

ID Please

‘"Are you sure you work here? You look like a teenager.'"

"May not seem like an insult but when you’re trying to be taken seriously at work it can feel degrading to be treated like a child."

BranwenTheRiveter

"As a 5’6 man I feel this. I don’t look young for my age, but everyone talks over me (figuratively and literally) and I have to work twice as hard to command respect all while not trying TOO hard so I don’t get accused of having 'little man syndrome.'"

tracheamusic

Just Pale

"I saw a meme years ago that was like 'I no longer conceal my under eyes because I want the world to know I’m fed up with its sh*t... lol.' My boss said to me recently, 'Omg, do you have a black eye!?!?!?' I said 'Oh I must have a makeup smudge.' Went to the mirror— nope, just very pale and tired."

freckleddeerborn

And you...

"Bless your heart from a southerner is not a compliment."

Lilfrieda

"I always reply with, 'likewise.'"

Julianitaos

Such a mix...

"You're so exotic!!"

kuroobloom

"I’m mixed. I’ve gotten similar compliments from older white men. However, given the context is usually that they’re very positive and tend to be a bit enthralled, I think they mean it as a genuine compliment. They probably haven’t seen a lot of ‘color’ and find it exciting and new. I’ll take that over, 'I thought you were (insert completely wrong ethnicity)' any day of the week."

RavenNymph90

Just Half

"'Alas, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable hobbits. I don't know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.'"

The420Wizard

Woah

"Once had someone in high school who said to me 'woah… you're pretty smart for someone with ADHD' what the f**k does that mean? told her to go f**k herself and she cried- not even kidding."

triggerhappypoptarts

"I don't blame you, I kinda wish I had the courage to say 'f**k you' to someone who insulted billions of people right in front of my face."

AngelFrag

Keeping Up...

"I’ve been playing hockey lately, just learned how to skate and what not and been getting pretty average. Keeping up with kids playing scrimmages and what not. My buddy, who played for over 15 years, plays with me sometimes and teaches me things."

"The first time we went skating he taught me how to skate backwards, the next time we played he goes 'you’ve went from someone who can’t play hockey to a bad hockey player.' I think it was his way of saying I’m getting better, but I still have to think that compliment through sometimes lol."

Pokemaster-inaHonda

Just Go

"'See you later.'"

"'Not if I see you first!'"

"It took me so long to realize that phrase actually meant that if that person saw you first they would find a way to avoid you so you don't see them."

jrkorsonret436rfgw

See... we know what you all really mean. You mean girls!